Data is transmitted by the sensors using low-power Bluetooth Smart technology, and is processed by an algorithm on the phone. It compares the rider’s current pedaling speed to their preferred cadence, then instructs the Di2 to shift up or down in order to restore or maintain that cadence.

Is this next years must have? I must admit there is an attraction to going auto. Forget gears and just pedal.

What if you're in a bunch and need to ease of the pedals to maintain a gap to the rider in front or are just coasting down a hill ? Interesting possibility, though not sure how it will go with front ring changes. I wouldn't like to be out of the seat when it tries to shift to the big ring .

warthog1 wrote:What if you're in a bunch and need to ease of the pedals to maintain a gap to the rider in front or are just coasting down a hill ? Interesting possibility, though not sure how it will go with front ring changes. I wouldn't like to be out of the seat when it tries to shift to the big ring .

Presumably it would allow for these conditions. It's cadence based rather than power based, so it would maintain a gear with no power as long as you kept spinning. With access to GPS it would know you were on a hill.

What it wouldn't know is whether or not you were about to attack. Even this might not be such an issue. I've heard DI2 shifts pretty well under load. You'd also assume an auto shift would occur at the optimal point of the stroke. Could be a sprinter's best friend if it works.

I predicted this would happen a while back when I heard some one had hacked a system to be sequential, would not be hard for somebody with some electrical knowledge and bike smarts, incorporate a cadence sensor into the hacked Di2 processor, allow the rider to set a cadence range they want to be with in and then the system could make it happen.

Data is transmitted by the sensors using low-power Bluetooth Smart technology, and is processed by an algorithm on the phone. It compares the rider’s current pedaling speed to their preferred cadence, then instructs the Di2 to shift up or down in order to restore or maintain that cadence.

Is this next years must have? I must admit there is an attraction to going auto. Forget gears and just pedal.